Getting hitched? 6 tips for the perfect wedding invitation design

Everybody loves a good wedding and we at 99designs are no exception. To be honest, though, what really gets our hearts aflutter is beautifully designed wedding stationery – staffers can often be heard oohing and ahhing over one of the thousands of wedding invitation design contests 99designs has hosted to date. Invitations, thank you cards, illustrations, posters, wedding ring designs…we’ve pretty much seen it all. With the summer wedding season in full swing, we thought we’d ask some of our favorite newlywed customers for wedding invitation ideas and tips to help other lovebirds in their design endeavors.

“We knew we wanted our invitation to look like a 1960’s rock concert poster. And since our guests would be staying on a quiet Pacific Northwest island, we wanted the invitations to feel casual, laid-back and give the impression of a fun weekend. Still, we looked at tons and tons of designs online to decide what we liked and didn’t like. The clearer your vision for the design, the better you can communicate with designers.We shared photos of the invitations and posters we liked with the designers, so they weren’t starting from scratch. We printed the design locally at Kinko’s, using really nice paper we bought at a stationery store. The result looked awesome and was really cost effective – an amazing, professional looking invitation for a fraction of the typical cost.” – Jeff Goldenberg

#2. Create your design as early as possible in the wedding-planning process

“Start working on the design as soon as possible, because once you have it you can use it for everything. We ended up featuring it not only on the invitations but on our website, party favors and more. Also, make it memorable by personalizing it – for instance, we told our designer that we like cats and otters, and that the wedding would have a Bohemian vibe. When you’ve selected the final design, ask for it in different file formats and in black and white as well as color – you never know which version you’ll need for different purposes and it’ll save time later on.” – Cristina Arola

“Do lots of homework so you can give designers as many references as you can to styles and designs you like. Pinterest is one obvious place to start these days. At that point, it’s much easier to put together a more detailed and specific design brief that will be help designers create something you’re happy with.” – Mark Stewart

“For us though it wasn’t just about the finding the right stationery – it was about creating a logo that we could use on all our different pieces from invitations to napkins to the website to wedding program. For us, it made everything feel significantly more personal.” – Ben Hatten

“Ultimately, the best designs are those that are meaningful for you and speak to you. Do think about how your audience, which might be pretty varied between family, friends, parents’ friends, great aunt Sally, etc, will interpret your design, but ultimately, if it represents you that’s the most important thing. In the end, go with your gut. I had the idea for our concert poster design for years and was so happy to turn it into reality.” – Adam Abeles.

“Thank you notes are important in showing genuine appreciation, letting your guests know that the things they did made a big difference – whether it was giving a gift or making the trip to your wedding. Make sure you have the thank you notes ready even before the wedding. This way, when you’re done celebrating you can send out these tokens of appreciation without a hitch! We chose a fun design that represents both of our hometowns – Brisbane and Amsterdam – and captures the fun spirit we hope people will remember the party by.” – Kyra Harrington

As you’ll see from these other eye-catching designs, there’s no such thing as being too creative when it comes to your big day. Check out more wedding invitation ideas: